Hey i had a question, my friends pc motherboard is going a bit mad and went and bought a brand new motherboard and want to put it in.

Now heres the question, when i built it i initially used one 500gb samsung F3 hard drive for the main store (i.e. os and everything else) and later i added a second 500 gb hard drive to use with windows vista (64bit home premium) backup function. i was wondering could i delete everything on the first hard drive and install the new motherboard and cpu and do a fresh install then use the back up to move the programs and data back over?

Yes. I'm not entirely sure how the backup function of Windows Vista works (as in whether you may need to reinstall programs or not), but as long as the computer doesn't attempt to boot from the backup drive it should be completely accessible to Windows once you install to the primary drive.

It is also possible with some preparation (though based on my experience with doing so in Windows XP, I wouldn't personally recommend it) to simply plop the primary hard drive into the new motherboard and have the Windows disc to install whatever drivers are necessary for your new motherboard.

Edited at Fri Aug 13, 2010 3:02:57 PM

Michael: Jodie, how's my schedule look for today?Jodie: You've got a conference and dinner party at the Japanese Embassy regarding wildlife protection.Michael: Oh, yeah...sorry, but I'll have to cancel that. I'm heading out to save America!

Michael: Jodie, how's my schedule look for today?Jodie: You've got a conference and dinner party at the Japanese Embassy regarding wildlife protection.Michael: Oh, yeah...sorry, but I'll have to cancel that. I'm heading out to save America!

Try installing the new drivers on the first hard drive. Then swap the mobos and see if it boots up. If not, there are three different ways that one can get it working.

Keep in mind that you will probably have to call Microsoft about this, because it is probably going to give you crap about activation no matter which way you try and transfer everything.

Michael: Jodie, how's my schedule look for today?Jodie: You've got a conference and dinner party at the Japanese Embassy regarding wildlife protection.Michael: Oh, yeah...sorry, but I'll have to cancel that. I'm heading out to save America!

Ghost copies work with mobo swaps? Wouldn't they throw up the same boot errors as transplanting the drive does?

Said By Bokranator

thats fine ive dealt with them before so i know what to expect... but what are these three ways just in case?

Aron mentioned the easiest way to do it. Stick the drive back in with the Windows disc and do a repair install at startup. This will go off without a hitch probably 95% of the time, if not more.

The more involved way to do basically the same thing is to manually go through and switch all of the chipset drivers to a generic set using device manager so it boots no matter what you plug it into, and when you fire up Windows the first time after the mobo swap it should install the specific drivers automatically as soon as it logs in. I've rotated through 4 mobos in the past year on my worst computer and transferred my primary hard drive about a dozen times between them, and that is how I've set it up it each time (as I understand it, this was how it was usually done in the days before XP. Coincidentally, this is also the way that my uncle taught me to do it). Depending on what programs your friend has installed on his computer, this may actually be the best way of doing it (in my experience, some legacy programs tend to hate Repair Installations).

The annoying way is to copy the entire drive to the backup, nuke the primary, install Windows, reinstall your programs and then copy all of your settings by hand from the backup drive (this is how I've done it each time I've reinstalled Windows from scratch for a mobo transfer, which was probably 5 of the above-mentioned dozen times. It really isn't worth doing unless you have to, and the only reason I have done it is probably because I am obsessive compulsive with these things).

Edited at Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:21:41 AM

Michael: Jodie, how's my schedule look for today?Jodie: You've got a conference and dinner party at the Japanese Embassy regarding wildlife protection.Michael: Oh, yeah...sorry, but I'll have to cancel that. I'm heading out to save America!

Just put in the Vista operating system disk, and do the "add new disk" option. It allows for upgrading hard drives, motherboards/chips, memory, optical drives, etc... Keep in mind that your friend will have to re-activate the copy of Vista as per the MS agreement when upgrading to a different chipset. No biggie though, but you or your friend may have to do the call in to MS. Easy enough though.

Hey guys sorry for the wait, i did it all as suggested and it worked without a hitch i think the fact the old motherboard drivers were of the 780 sort helped, just going though reactivating windows but i reccommend this method and will probs use it for future upgrades. Thanks alot for the advice!